National Theaters - Book of Secrets

“Manav……Ajay’s Phone… ” yelled my mother and banged the phone on my ear. The clock ticked 9.40am on that Saturday morning, and I was on my bed, sleeping. “Chal.. Movie chalte hai… ” was our way of action. Yes, that’s how we always plan, never plan one! Just get up one fine morning, call the other guy, curse him for sleeping, call him a “Kumbhakaran”, open the newspaper (the other opens famecinemas.com), hunt for one, and bang!!! Run!!! We meet in exactly 15min.

This time, however we decided to go for the movie the good old way. No multiplexes for us! What surprises us is NOT “Om Shanti Om” tickets being sold out at 320 bucks, but it is the people, who buy those!!! So, we decided to go to a local theater. Yeah, it was really local. We chose, Moviegem, Dahisar.

Let me tell you, this theater is hidden. You need to have a TREASURE HUNT map to locate it. Even the people around the theater building have NOT heard the word “THEATER” in years. The small tiny building that appears on the road, transforms into a gigantic theater area, in its backyard. Tickets prices were surprising too – Rs. 30/- for STALL and Rs. 50/- for BALCONY. It was so soothing to hear these two words, which we had long forgotten about, all that we remember now is GOLD/SILVER/PREMIERE seats. Still trying to figure out why they are called GOLD, SILVER seats. But STALL and BALCONY… so much clear and appealing. And we chose, yeah right STALL!

Tickets were not computer generated. They are so boring. But we had this person, who has 3 stamps, who applies them one by one just like a machine; ZAP ZAP ZAP, and done. You have it in your hand, even before you choose seats on the computer in a multiplex. The theater had everything. A guard, who checks your tickets and lets you in. He’ll even help you get in, even if you don’t have one. You are so very happy to see the man with the torch light, who guides you to the correct seat. People who know me well, will surely know what would I really do with a STALL ticket, yes try to sneak into, try a hand at getting BALCONY seats. And am happy to say that, it worked too! So, it was Nicolas Cage starrer “National Treasure – Book of Secrets”. In the interval, to complete the movie experience, we even enjoyed some POPCORN.

Ten on Ten to the movie experience! It is so much very important to preserve old theaters, it’s a national treasure! A boon to countless college people, who have to manage their and theirs’ tickets from their pocket money. Well, where else you will see Tickets been sold in BLACK. When would you be able to say – “Black mein tickets kharid ke dekhi”.